Twenty years of British polar expeditions are described, covering nearly 60 expeditions and over 260 members, virtually all emanating from the universities. Expeditions are catalogued with the official name (if any), dates, areas visited, leader's name, number of members, and mentioning any special features. Backgrounds and principal characteristics of the expeditions are described, particularly scientific objectives and details of members, including distinctions in their later careers. The record includes four deaths, all in the summer and three from drowning, and a single rescue operation of an aircraft by a motor boat. Scientific results are outlined, with main emphasis on the author's speciality (surveying and mapping); hope is expressed that others will describe the other scientific results in future articles. Most expeditions were characterized by absence of publicity, and the virtual impossibility of rescue operations due to isolation and lack of field radio transmitters and aircraft.

Major archaeological excavations have been conducted at Scott's 1910–13 expedition hut site on Cape Evans, Ross Island, Ross Dependency, Antarctica over the past three years. The work has involved experimentation and the use of a wide range of equipment for excavating in ice and permafrosted ground and to deal with specific problems encountered during archaeological fieldwork in a frozen environment such as Antarctica. The equipment, its operations, and advantages and disadvantages are described.

The deep eastern Arctic basin between the Lomonosov Ridge and the Eurasian continental margin differs from other ocean basins in the very slow spreading of its floor and unusual depositional environment under perennial sea-ice cover. The recent expedition ARK IV/3 of RV Polar stern for the first time made geoscientific investigations from the northern margin of the Barents Sea north to the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge. Much deeper than most other mid-ocean ridges, this ridge is poorly-surveyed, but has a central valley which in places is deeper than 5.5 km, 1–1.5 km below the basin floors on either side. Heat flow in the central part of the valley is very rapid; both basement rocks and overlying sediments showed unexpectedly the influence of intense and long-term hydrothermal activity. The sediments on the northern and southern flanks of the ridge are slightly calcareous pelagic mud layers alternating with carbonate-free horizons, where up to 40% of the sedimentary section is soft mud clasts. Similar mud aggregates were observed on the surface of the multi-year sea ice, appearing to represent a special type of sediment transport by sea ice in the Transpolar Drift. In contrast to the western Arctic, Fram Strait and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, gravel is rarely found in sediment cores. Recovered cores indicate that icebergs and sea ice carrying coarse sediment seldom rafted detritus to the study area during the last approximately 300,000 years.

A very clear mirage observed by Scoresby in the Greenland Sea shows an inverted ship floating above the horizon. This mirage can be mathematically reconstructed using a linear image diagram. Scoresby's description is here re-examined: anew set of essential assumptions is distilled from his report, and an ‘exact’ reproduction of the mirage is obtained to match these conditions.

Northern Canada and Alaska from 1945 to 1951 had only a minor military presence and no radar surveillance of airborne threats. Fear of nuclear attack from the USSR led to the installation of numerous radar stations between 1951 and 1958. Alaska gained an inner and an outer arc of radar stations, and Canada the Pinetree Line, Mid-Canada Line, Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line and the little-known Pine-Gap radars of the east coast, from Newfoundland to Baffin Island. The Mid-Canada line closed in 1965 and the Pine-Gap stations were dismantled nine years later. The Pinetree and DEW lines ceased operation in 1988. Alaskan radar facilities were upgraded in the mid- 1980s, and in 1987 and 1988 similar radars were installed at the 14 stations of the North Warning Line, built along the abandoned DEW and Pine-Gap lines from northwestern Alaska to southern Labrador. Very long-range over-the-horizon radars at three locations will be completed by the early 1990s to monitor aircraft in the vicinity of Alaska and the east and west coasts of Canada. The ballistic missile early warning radars installed in the early 1960s in Alaska and Greenland received major improvements in the late 1980s.

This article reviews the role that ministerial directives played in shaping the constitutional development of the Yukon Territory 1970–85. These were years of dramatic change, with the form of government shifting from autocratic bureaucracy to responsible democracy. The instrument for this change was the ministerial directive, an order from the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to the Commissioner, sanctioned by Section 4 of the Yukon Act. The fact that the head of government is the Commissioner, a senior federal public servant, was key to the process.

Distribution, size composition and behaviour of Euphausia superba were investigated in the northwestern Weddell Sea (59–63°S, 45–52°W) in October-November 1988 using RMT trawling, SCUBA diving and visual examination of the ice undersurface using a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV). Amounts of krill washed onto the ice during ice-breaking along transects were noted. Juvenile and sub-adult krill were found, often in high numbers, in association with seasonal pack-ice, from the outer marginal ice zone to at least 200 nautical miles [3 50 km] into the closed pack-ice zone. Krill caught with the RMT or observed within or close to the ice usually had full guts. They were frequently seen feeding on ice algae, and seemed to concentrate in pressure zones, melting ice and infiltration layers, ie where ice provided both confining crevices and rich algal growth. During twilight numbers of krill increased in open water close to the ice, though ROV observations at night revealed even greater numbers remaining in ice cavities. Direct observations from deck, by divers and by ROV, confirmed that most of the krill population in the uppermost water layer was confined to ice habitats, though in three out of 20 RMT catches krill reached densities of 0.1 nr3 ie normal summer values. ‘Miniswarms’ forming in early November may indicate seasonal transition of at least part of the krill population from winter ice habitat and grazing on ice-algae, to summer pelagic life and filter-feeding on phytoplankton.

During the 1981–82 austral summer a Joint Services Expedition to South Georgia recorded meteorological observations at Royal Bay, near to the site of the German station of the First International Polar Year in 1882–83. Comparisons between the two sets of observations emphasize the storminess of the climate and indicate slightly higher temperatures in 1981–82. Weather conditions at Royal Bay in 1981–82 were more comparable to those at King Edward Point (Grytviken), the main meteorological station on the island, than in the central mountains of the Salvesen Range.

Priyadarshani, an oligotrophic lake in Schirmacher Oasis (Antarctica), was surveyed during the austral summers of 1984–85 and 1986–87 in limnological and benthic studies. Benthic microfauna included seven taxonomic groups, dominated numerically by protozoa, rotifera, nematoda, turbellaria, tardigrada, oligochaeta and mites. Faunal density was high in moss-associated sediments. A maximum water depth of 6.5 m was recorded at the centre of the lake. A thick layer (25–90 cm) of moss and algal communities covered the bottom sediments. The total volume of water was estimated to be 62 million m3 over the submerged area of 0·297 km2.

After landing the Ross Sea shore party of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition at Cape Evans, McMurdo Sound, SY Aurora drifted for 313 days between May 1915 and March 1916 in the pack iceof the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean. During the drift A. H. Ninnis maintained observations of the fauna. He was out hunting on the pack ice on at least 86 days to augment the ship's slender provisions, taking 289 penguins, 10 other sea birds and 20 seals. He sighted whales on at least 15 days, including killer whales in July and August and four large whales, possibly blue whales, in November. He also noted birds returning south for the breeding season in spring, progress of moult in emperor penguins, pupping of crabeater and leopard seals, and food items of several seals and seabirds. Most of his report is presented here, edited to improve its readability and remove abbreviations; the text is preceded by a brief summary of the fauna seen and followed by footnotes on some of his observations.

Australia, a leading Antarctic state that played a key role in negotiating the Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities, in May 1989 announced its opposition to the Convention and adoption instead of a World Park or Wilderness Reserve concept for Antarctica. This article examines possible environmental and economic reasons for Australia's attitude, which is likely to have significant implications for the future of the Convention and for the Antarctic Treaty System as a whole.

In June and July 1914 DiamondJenness.amember of Stefansson's Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–18, excavated 103 archaeological features in three abandoned native villages originally inhabited 400 to 550 years ago on Barter Island and nearby Arey Island, northern Alaska. His notes, diagrams, and some 3300 specimens for long remained unstudied. Recently they have been shown to provide much of the available information on the prehistoric occupation of the western Beaufort Sea coast.

During March and April 1989 a two-man team from the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) took part in the oceanography ice camp phase of the Office of Naval Research-sponsored Coordinated Eastern Arctic Experiment (CEAREX). The aim of the experiment was to measure with strainmeters and tiltmeters the interaction between oceanic internal waves and sea ice. Arrays of these instruments were deployed to measure horizontal strain and vertical tilt fields continuously over a 29-day period. The resulting time series show quite clearly internal wavelike activity indicating that a strong coupling mechanism exists. Other interesting phenomena are evident in the data with timę-scales varying from seconds to several days.

The Meech Lake Accord constitutional amendment proposal generated extensive debate throughout Canada and the Canadian north. Aboriginal and northern Canadians were particularly vocal in their opposition to the Accord. Northerners were especially offended by the ‘unanimity’ clause, which would have given every province a veto over the creation of new provinces in the north. This paper provides a brief history of the Yukon's constitutional status, and discusses options for future constitutional development, in the context of an impending Yukon Indian land claims settlement and the issues raised by the Meech Lake accord.

This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri, its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been present in June and July. The colony was fragmented into several sub-groups which showed different mean sizes of chicks and survival to fledging. Other species observed included leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx, the only major predators, which preyed heavily on both adults and fledging chicks. Fledgelings left the colony over a period of about 10 days; departure was an active process in which the chicks walked to the ice edge and dispersed in groups, swimming consistently southward. At this time they were still in about 60% down and weighed about 10 kg, having lost some 30% of the heaviest mass achieved during parental feeding.

Exploitation of large gas deposits in Yamal peninsula, due to start in 1991, has been postponed until the late 1990s. Technical difficulties and rising costs are becoming apparent, while environmentalist and native-interest lobbies are becoming vociferous about the serious ecological and social impact of pipelines on wildlife, fishing and reindeer herding. An extensive public debate has developed, some of it opposed to the powerful gas ministries. Yet gas exports still play a key role in the Soviet economy, itself in the process of reform. The situation is thus in a state of uncertainty.

This article describes the main characteristics of the Greenlandic economy in the 1980s and the aims of the country's Home Rule Government in regard to fisheries policy and economic development. The strategy adopted by the Home Rule Government is presented and evaluated, in terms both of economic theory and of results. Greenland's problems are similar to those of other developing countries, but intensified by its Arctic location, communications problems, a vulnerable resource base and harsh operating conditions inits fisheries, also by its colonial and post-colonial history which has fuelled aspirations towards a high standard of living and given rise to high import demands. Difficulties encountered point towards a modification of the aims and policies of the government, including adoption of a less ambitious approach, focusing upon satisfying basic social and economic needs, and avoiding the mistakes made by the Danish administration in the 1960s and 1970s, which led to alienation of segments of the population from the process of development.

Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933), born in Greenland of Danish-Inuit stock, spent his childhood in Greenland. After schooling in Denmark he returned to Greenland for expeditions to the Inuit of the northeast, establishing by his late twenties a reputation as explorer and ethnographer. He undertook seven major expeditions to the Arctic, collecting ethnographic, archaeological, meteorological, geological, zoological and botanic data. His longest and best-known journey was the Fifth Thule Expedition, in which he travelled by dog sledge across Arctic America from Danish Island in the east to Nome, Alaska. His extensive record of the culture of Inuit groups met on his journeys remains one of the most valuable collections of Inuit folklore in existence.

Henry Grinnell (1799–1874), a retired New York shipping magnate, maintained for 20 years a correspondence with Jane Franklin, wife of the British explorer Sir John Franklin whose ships Erebus and Terror were lost in the Arctic some time after 1845. Grinnell financed two United States expeditions and two searches by Charles Francis Hall to the Arctic to collect information on the fate of the Franklin expedition. Grinnell's letters, now held in the archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute, form the basis of this article.

Aerial reconnaissance and photography were used in the Ross Sea sector of Antarctica to determine the breeding locations of Adelie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae, and to count the numbers of nests occupied during the early incubation period. From 1981 to 1987, all islands and sea coasts between 158°E and 175°E were searched, and 11 previously unreported breeding rookeries were discovered. Thirty-eight Adé1ie rookeries are now known from the region, with a total of about 1,082,000 breeding pairs — almost half the world population. Some rookeries were photographed in all, or most, of the seven seasons to study the pattern of natural fluctuations in Adelie populations, and comparisons have been made with earlier counts. Populations at nearly all rookeries have increased in size over the last 10–20 years. Possible reasons for this, and for annual fluctuations in numbers breeding, include seasonal variations in. sea ice and weather conditions, and longer-term climatic change.